Hi you, welcome to my glimmer blog! I’m Jess (she/her), a 33-year-old book addict from Belgium. Glimmers are defined as “micro moments of joy” and as a neurodiverse woman who has been fighting depression and complex PTSD for most of her adult life, those glimmers are what make life worthwhile for me. So, I decided to revamp my previous book blog to incorporate all my glimmers and my Special Interests. Now, what are those Glimmers and Special Interests? My, I am so glad you asked, my dear! Now sit back and relax, and let me take you on a journey through my passions.
Stories
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been passionate about stories. As a small child, I had a huge collection of notebooks filled with plots, poetry, character profiles etc. The stories I read and saw fuelled my imagination and I made so many diverse friends: at first, it were Fox (The animals of Farthing Wood ) and Campion (Watership Down), later I lost my heart to Will Scarlet (Robin Hood) and Athos (Les Trois mousquetaires). Still later on, I was fortunate enough to grow up with Harry Potter and characters like Sirius and Remus played a huge role in my life.
Being a proper Ravenclaw, I decided to combine my love for words with my passion for academics and completed a university degree in Literature and Linguistics. We focused mainly on the big names of the literary world and on “serious, adult fiction”. To be very honest: I wasn’t too impressed. To me, a good story should contain the following ingredients: Magic – Adventure – Romance
And somehow, much of what is called “proper, serious literature” does not seem to agree with me. So you won’t be surprised to hear that you will mainly encounter Fantasy Romance reviews on my blog! I also adore Dark Romance, and while I have a preference for books written for “New Adults”, I also love “Young Adult” books. My favourite topic is what I call “improbable romance“. However, as this blog will be focussed on glimmers, I will not be restricting myself to these genres and target audiences if I find gems outside of these boundaries. I am a book dragon, after all ;).
Book treasures
What does a book lover love more than reading? Collecting books, of course! Nothing as great as a beautiful special edition book. I mainly collect editions by Fairyloot and Illumicrate, but I love any unique, beautiful, or antique book I can find. As collecting books plays a huge part in my life, reviews of special editions will become a major focus for my blog.
(Super)natural history
I was born in the wrong century. When I was little, I would reply “Professor of Everything” whenever someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. As science became more and more specialised, however, it became increasingly rare to be a scientist who studied various random fields, like fossils, stars, vampire legends, and human languages. Furthermore, my beloved science “salons” of ages gone by also disappeared without a trace. As my Special Interests varied through time, and I started (and stopped) a doctorate twice, I finally gave up on ever becoming the Natural Historian or Hogwarts’ Professor I dreamed of being. Until…
Tales from the Dragon’s Lair
Until I decided that I could be whatever I wanted to be. In future, I dream of opening a study centre, where people can come together to read, study, discuss a variety of topics. I hope to write about the topics that interest me, share my passion with others via talks or workshops, and to contribute to the biggest treasure of them all: knowledge.
On this blog, you will find three main categories of content:
- Reviews
- Book Tales (Bookish content other than reviews)
- Wonder & Curiosity (Other content linked to my Special Interests)
So why Tales from the Dragon’s Lair? I assume that by now, it will not surprise you to learn that I am rather fond of fantastical beings like Dragons. As it happens, so is my boyfriend. Because of this, we decided to name our house the Dragon’s Lair. I believe it’s fair to say that I tend to hoard Glimmers and Special Interests very much like a dragon does treasure 😉. And who knows. Maybe, one day, The Dragon’s Lair will be a real study centre.